Zimmerman's Lawyers Withdraw from Case: 'We Have Lost Contact'

(Reuters) – Two attorneys for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, stepped down as his lawyers on Tuesday after saying they had lost contact with him and that he was no longer in Florida.

Lawyers Craig Sonner and Hal Uhrig said they had not heard from Zimmerman since Sunday and expressed concern about his mental and physical health. They said he had taken several recent actions without their advice, including calling a special prosecutor in the case and a television journalist.

“We have lost contact with him,” Sonner told a news conference outside the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford, Florida, the town where 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot.

“He’s gone on his own. I’m not sure what he’s doing and who he’s talking to,” he said.

Zimmerman told police he shot Martin in self defense. He has not been charged in the case and went into hiding after the shooting triggered protests calling for his arrest.

Sanford police declined to arrest Zimmerman after the shooting, saying they found no evidence to contradict his account that he had acted in self-defense.

Police cited Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows people to use deadly force against adversaries when they fear great bodily harm or death.

The decision by Zimmerman’s lawyers to step down marked the latest twist in a case that has captured national attention because of race and Florida’s controversial self-defense laws.